Ben Barnes Talks THE WORDS and Emulating Jeremy Irons

In The Words, Ben Barnes (The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian) has the most unenviable task of playing the younger version of Jeremy Irons’ character. Irons, beyond versatile, commands each scene he’s in with nary more than a look. Emulating that type of presence is no easy feat. Add onto that – most of Barnes’ performance is physical with little to no dialogue (Irons narrates over) and that he’s playing a period World War Two Vet. It’s like Barnes’ took up the trifecta of acting challenges. But Barnes handles himself nicely here – more than matching Iron’s ferocious presence and doing more with a glance than a page monologue would elicit.

In the following interview with Barnes, he talks studying Irons mannerisms, working with no dialogue and the differences acting for film and theater. For the full interview, hit the jump.

Ben Barnes Time Index:

00:00 – Ben Barnes on emulating Jeremy Irons

01:35 – On playing up the physicality of the role/working with not-much dialogue

02:35 – On the research that goes into playing a character in World War Two